David Cameron has dismissed claims the Conservatives would put up VAT if they
won the general election, insisting his first Budget would focus on cutting
spending.

David Cameron has dismissed claims the Conservatives would put up VATPhoto: REUTERS

7:17PM BST 23 Apr 2010

The Tory leader also indicated the north east of England and Northern Ireland would be among regions targeted for reductions in government expenditure.

And he reiterated his view that a hung parliament could be disastrous for Britain's economy

Although he again stressed it would be "irresponsible" to give guarantees against any tax move, Mr Cameron did say: "We have said in respect to all taxes that we think the Government's doing too much in terms of raising taxes and not enough in terms of cutting spending.

"We have absolutely no plans to raise VAT. Our first budget is all about recognising we need to get spending under control rather than putting up tax."

The comments came as Mr Cameron followed Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg in being subjecting himself to a grilling at the hands of the BBC's Jeremy Paxman. Gordon Brown is due to take his turn next week.

Pressed on his plans for cutting spending, Mr Cameron said Labour's commitment to halving the deficit over four years was not enough and the Government needed to "go further".

"We think you need to reduce the bulk of structural deficit in the (next) parliament," he said.

Mr Cameron said he had already taken "tough and difficult" decisions over where cuts should fall, but conceded: "It's not enough to fill the whole black hole. It doesn't do the whole job. But it is more than the Government has done."

He said the Conservatives had identified "streams" of spending that would be reduced, and said there were many "programmes in government that have got out of control".

He said some of the savings would come from shedding jobs, but denied that meant compulsory redundancies. "If you don't fill posts that become available you can actually save serious money there without people losing their jobs," he added.

Mr Cameron was read one of his old quotes in which he suggested that the state accounted for a bigger part of the economy in some UK regions than in the old communist Eastern Bloc, and branded that situation "unsustainable".

Asked which areas he had been referring to, the Tory leader replied: "In Northern Ireland it is quite clear, almost every party now accepts this, that the size of the state has got too big.

"We need a bigger private sector. There are other parts of the country, for instance the North East."

He went on: "The aim has got to be now to get the private sector to get the commercial sector going."

But Mr Cameron strongly denied that he was "ideologically" inclined to slash government spending.

"I didn't come into politics to make the kind of reductions that we have to do. If we come into government we are going to inherit a complete mess," he added.

Mr Brown earlier stepped up his attack on the Tories, claiming they would have put 1.7 million more people out of work during the recession.

Claiming that his top three priorities were "jobs, jobs, jobs", the Prime Minister tried to re-focus the campaign on the economic policy choices facing voters on May 6.

He turned his fire on both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats as highly-anticipated figures on growth showed that the economy had not tipped back into recession in the past quarter.

But, with GDP increasing by only 0.2 per cent, Mr Brown underscored his argument that it was too early to risk the economy with either of the other parties.

After polls suggested he had again failed to impress viewers in the second of the televised debates, he admitted that he would never beat Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg on "style".

"But I believe I beat them on substance and policy and it is substance and policy that is needed to lead Britain into the future," he said.

With Labour beaten back into third by the Lib Dems in most recent polls, Mr Brown acknowledged that his job was "on the line".

Speaking to students and apprentices at City College in Coventry, he went on: "Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg would like to have my job.

"That's fair enough - but it's your job I care about and their policies would put your jobs at risk."

Today's GDP announcement by the Office of National Statistics had been seen in advance as a potentially decisive moment in the election campaign.

Mr Cameron said the 0.2 per cent growth in the first quarter of 2010 was "disappointing" and demonstrated the Government was "too weak".

Mr Brown hailed it as a "hugely optimistic moment" but warned that Britain was not "out of the woods yet".